CALGARY — Security experts with Calgary’s Police Service broke provincial privacy legislation by snooping in a civilian employee’s personal email account and copying topless photos of the woman as part of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace.

Alberta’s Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has ordered the police service to stop collecting personal information in this fashion and has directed that staff receive training to ensure they don’t overstep the law again.

“Logging into the complainant’s personal email is exceptionally invasive and patently unreasonable in the circumstances,” said adjudicator Amanda Swanek.

According to the order that was released Monday, the IT security manager at CPS began monitoring the woman’s corporate email in March, 2010, after co-workers told her manager about alleged inappropriate conduct with a police officer while on the job.

When the manager found a message sent to a family member containing the woman’s log-in and password for her personal email, he used that information to access the account.

He found two photos that the woman apparently had taken of herself in a washroom stall. The checkered green and white tile in the images was similar to the pattern at the police headquarters, leading him to believe they were taken while the woman was on duty.

The photos were copied, given to her supervisor and HR consultant, and subsequently used by the CPS in its decision to fire the woman.

Peter Marsden, president of CUPE Local 38, said the worker has since been reinstated and the service has apologized for its actions.

“People have an expectation of privacy in their personal email and when the police service oversteps those bounds it’s disturbing,” Marsden said.

While he said he believes the incident was an anomaly, Marsden added he is concerned that the service is using methods appropriate for a criminal investigation when it reviews the behaviour of its own employees.

“What might be OK in finding online sexual predators is not OK in an internal disciplinary matter,” he said.